Chapter 18: Volume 1 - CH 4.1

Lumi Spike never brings up her 『Mother』.

Seymour suddenly realized this one week after his eyes had grown accustomed to the red splashed on the walls. On a quiet day when he had decided to take a break from work and read a book at home.

“Uhnn,” Lumi groaned quietly.

Her body had sunk halfway into the floor. No, that wasn’t an accurate description. Her body wasn’t in the ground, but rather a shadow. Seymour’s shadow, to be precise, stretched out long behind him in the light of the naked bulb. She was settled all the way up to her shoulders, reading a magazine and looking for all the world as if she were lounging in the tub. For a while now she had been immodestly raising a long, smooth leg out of the shadow, only to let it drop back in the next moment.

Just the other day, unable to stifle his curiosity, Seymour had tried to ask her how it felt to delve into shadows.

『I’d say it feels a bit like a cat sleeping in a sunny spot, though it’s not like I can be sure of how that feels』 was the answer he received.

At any rate, Lumi lazily read like this for a while, but quickly began to play around, repeatedly looking up then back at her magazine, eventually just letting it fall on the floor with a whap.

“Mr. Seymour, what should we do for lunch today? I’ve been looking up all kinds of recipes in this magazine, but you know, I think I’d like to have a specific goal in mind.”

“Anything works for me. I’m not picky. Just make something edible.”

“Haven’t any of the girls you’ve been with told you that they hated you for saying something like that?”

“Come to think of it, the last time I said that to a girl, she threw raw pasta into my face.”

“No wonder. And what did you do with it?”

“Well, it turns out that if you chew thoroughly enough, they’re edible.”

“So you really weren’t joking when you said that you’d eat anything edible!?”

Seymour thought about things as he casually chatted with Lumi about things that had less and less substance by the minute.

He felt like Lumi wouldn’t ever have said something like this before. The majority of her knowledge and behavior had been shaped by whatever entity she called her mother. And he suspected that this was yet another lie to get on his good side.

If I remember correctly, according to the president of Murder Inc., Lumi never spent enough time as just a girl to learn these things from a mother.

Therefore her entire character sheet ─ the tendency to rely on the knowledge her mother had taught her, the display of weakness that was shivering in a sewer pipe after suddenly running away from his home, and the boldness to abruptly demand he call her by name ─ it was a setup to ensure that Seymour would allow Lumi to stay with him.

If he was honest, Seymour couldn’t deny that this fake character was tailored extremely well for the intended goal, given his character and history.

“……”

He was just about to examine his feelings on the matter but stopped abruptly. He shifted his eyes to the portable stove as Lumi slipped out of the shadow and stretched. It seemed like she was going to start cooking, but she shook her head instead, looking terribly annoyed.

“Haah, aren’t you revealing an awful lot about how men act when they think they’re popular?”

“No problem. I’m just someone who wants to experience love. Racking your brains as you think about your partner is a form of love, right? I want to see that.”

“Whoaa, isn’t that the kind of statement that might work while everything is still new, but destroys any chance of a long-term relationship?”

“How do you know so much about my personal track record with women?”

Lumi laughed loudly at Seymour’s miserable look.

This was yet another difference. As usual, she made sure to never declare herself to be a hitman. But besides that, she had started to allow a thread of her true sarcastic nature through.

“No helping it. I’ll whip something up, so please wait for a bit.”

Lumi went to the corner she had recently cleaned and turned into a cooking area. Tying the apron around it made her already slender waist seem even more petite, forming a rather provocative image. After tying the hair in a simple bun behind her head, Lumi looked for the kitchen knife Seymour had used to open some stubborn wrapping paper yesterday, and was lying in a corner of the room far away from the gas burner.

“……For heaven’s sake, can’t he keep things tidy for once?” Lumi muttered while quickly lifting a hand.

That arm vanished into a mist from the elbow down. A thin dark vapor crossed the room. That formless but unexpectedly tangible mist easily picked up the knife before returning to being Lumi’s lower arm again.

“Quite the convenient skill you got there.” Seymour muttered under his breath as he adjusted the service creeper he was using instead of a chair.

This was probably the biggest change of all. Lumi had stopped hiding her vampiric nature. For a while now she had been revealing parts of her abilities bit by bit, but each time it had been for a clear reason, such as exposing her arm to the river to prevent them falling off the bridge, transforming into bats during their deliveries, or threatening Seymour. He suspected that she had made sure not to show off too many of her inhuman abilities, keeping them at a level that Seymour could accept.

But now it was different. Now she used it merely for convenience and because she could, rather than for some grand purpose, leisurely resting in Seymour’s shadow or turning her arm into mist to pick up a kitchen knife. Just like humans used their hands to hold things and their feet to walk, Lumi naturally manifested her abilities as a vampire.

Seymour stared at the red paint on the wall. Having been splashed rather haphazardly, it was thicker in some parts than others, throwing complex shadows in the light of the bulb.

I’m sure that was the start of it.

Lumi had received Seymour’s approval to use her powers. That had changed the nature of their relationship. Seymour didn’t know if it was a change for the better or worse, but he was certain that what he thought didn’t actually matter.

He continued to stare vacantly at Lumi’s back. His eyes followed the swaying ends of her hair. The dull silver radiance burned itself into his eyes, and just as the swaying was about to lull him to sleep, Lumi suddenly turned around.

Her brows were furrowed and she had her hands against her hips.

“Give it a rest, will you? I can’t calm down over here.”

“……Really?”

“Even if you don’t watch me so intensely, I’ll prepare a delicious lunch rather than some dry pasta.”

It’s not like I actually thought you’d do something like that, is what Seymour felt like telling her, but he figured it would be too troublesome to explain so he just let out a weak laugh instead.

But because he didn’t explain, he was left wondering how she had interpreted his reaction when she moved.

Lumi sighed, took the frying pan off the stove, and briskly walked over. By the time Seymour processed the sight of her slender legs in front of him, he was already in her shadow as she leaned over him.

Her lips pressed against his forehead. A softness that lasted for but a fleeting moment.

Pulling back, Lumi wasn’t bashful in the least, the corners of her mouth instead quirking up in apparent satisfaction.

“Well, that should be enough to tide over your need for love, right?”

“……”

After considering it for a moment, Seymour spread both arms.

“I see. I’d be even happier if you didn’t stop at that, though.”

“Didn’t I just tell you? I’m in the middle of preparing lunch. Please wait a little while longer, okay?” With those words, Lumi ruffled Seymour’s hair, and then walked back towards the stove.

❖ ──『✙』── ❖

Seymour curled up, unable to resist the urge to puke. Large quantities of vomit gushed out of his gaping mouth. He retched again and again, throwing up the watery contents of his stomach. He was unnaturally aware that his back was twitching and convulsing like a bug right before its wings emerged. The food, which had been delicious, had been now reduced to filth underneath Seymour’s body.

He only managed to stand up after he was sure that his stomach was empty.

It was currently deep in the night. A few hours after he had stuffed himself with a hefty dinner. The moon was well on its way towards the western sky.

Seymour, who had made sure to aim for the river from his spot on the riverbank behind the garage, noticed some of his puke hadn’t made it all the way into the river, and kicked it into the water with the tip of his foot.

His stomach was now empty, but his nausea hadn’t abated. It still felt like someone had stuck a hand into his stomach and was churning it up. Seymour forced himself to stop wheezing, an involuntary response to his vomiting, and spat out the sour taste in his mouth before roughly swiping a hand over it.

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For the last week, his days had been filled with sudden but intense nausea. Seymour tried to think back for a reason as he tottered back to the garage. His physical condition wasn’t bad. Rather, ever since he had started to live with Lumi, his eating habits had drastically improved. He also found it difficult to believe that Lumi would poison his food.

Returning to the garage, he headed straight for the toolbox. With trembling fingers, he opened the hot chocolate can that he had buried under a heap of tools. Carelessly pouring the powder into a mug, he added some of the hot water that Lumi never failed to prepare for him.

He ran out of strength just as he finished making the hot chocolate and slowly flopped down on the ground. Seymour licked at the hot liquid that had splashed onto his hand when the mug shook.

“Sweet.”

And then he turned his thoughts back to the question of why he was feeling so sick. His eyes kept roving the room restlessly. Lumi Spike was nowhere to be found. She had curtly informed him that she was stepping out, transformed into a cloud of bats, and melted into the night sky.

She hadn’t directly stated that she was out to kill someone. However, Seymour thought it was pretty likely all the same.

But what about it? It bore no meaning whatsoever for him. This fact had been drilled into him over and over throughout the life of Seymour Road. Since nothing had tangible value and every action and reason was equivalent, there was no such thing as sin or punishment either. Everything was equal in its worthlessness.

Because of that, none of this was extraordinary. Not the monster that was Lumi, settling down here, nor Lumi frequently killing people and sucking their blood.

Seymour tried to get his breathing under control. He perceived himself as single moving body. He forcefully suppressed his own body like you’d cover the windows with wooden planks before a storm. He repeatedly told himself that his body’s trembling and nausea was meaningless until his heart could come to terms with it.

It would all be fine as long as he could maintain his happy daily life. Having the gentle and beautiful Lumi Spike stay in his sights brought the highest happiness for Seymour. That reason alone was enough for him to remain nothing more than a bystander.

Enjoy your worthless daily life for simply being so fantastic.

He could hear distant gunshots ripping through the night. He didn’t know how hard Murder Inc. strove to perform righteous murders, but stopping one dispute only meant that another would start soon after. Seymour could sense the tingle of an approaching storm fill the air.

Before long, his nausea had gently faded away, so gently that he didn’t even notice when it had gone. Seymour let out a breath of relief, and then he drunk the mud-like chocolate that had no more warmth to offer him.

“……Sweet.”

❖ ── ✦ ──『✙』── ✦ ── ❖

Seymour’s car, the Essex, had served him well for a fairly long time. Although it had loyally borne the abuse of his barbaric handling year after year, sometimes its age showed and it would malfunction.

Thus, Seymour currently had his head shoved under the open bonnet of the Essex.

“Hmm, I wonder whether fixing it will help at this point. Maybe it’d be better to buy a replacement?”

Yesterday he had noticed that the engine would splutter when he tried to rev the engine.

Because today was yet another day of no work for Seymour, he had started hunting for the cause not long after he woke up ─ in other words, in the evening after the sun went down. Right now he stood in the garage, oil smeared on his cheeks and toolbox in hand. He had removed the calibrator, disassembled it for cleaning and adjustment, and reassembled it before returning it to its place in the engine.

And now he was suddenly troubled. He wanted to listen to the engine rev from beside the bonnet and not from the driver’s seat to make sure that he had properly adjusted the calibrator, if possible. But, since Seymour had only one body, he naturally couldn’t hold down the accelerator while standing by the bonnet.

His amateur’s skill was such a hindrance at times. Seymour pointlessly wandered back and forth between bonnet and driver’s seat as he considered his conundrum.

“…’at’re you doing?”

A sleepy voice interrupted both his thoughts and the pacing of those long legs he prided himself on. Lumi had apparently woken from her slumber, and descended from the loft.

Seymour briefly explained the situation to her. After listening to his story, even as her head drooped ─ probably because she was only half-awake and still thinking of dreamland ─ her body melted into the floor. Seymour was fairly sure that she had entered the shadows. He’d not yet finished processing her sudden departure before Lumi’s body abruptly reappeared in front of Seymour.

She looked towards the driver’s seat with eyes that looked a lot droopier than usual, “I’d just need to step on the accelerator?”

“Y-Yeah. Thanks. Ah, just so you know, you start an engine by────”

Seymour stopped speaking. Before he could even give her an explanation, the key, which he had left in the ignition, turned with a click, and the engine rumbled to life without a hitch.

So she can drive a car, huh? Come to think of it, I’ve never asked her whether or not she can actually drive. I just assumed that she can’t because of how young she looks and because she’s never mentioned it.

The engine slowly revved up and down. Seymour went around to the bonnet and listened carefully, even as his hand automatically went to his chin as he pondered the unexpected revelation.

“I didn’t know you could drive a car……wait, what?”

When he lifted his gaze, Lumi’s cheeks were just in the process of flushing a deep red. Apparently this was something deeply embarrassing to her, since Lumi chewed her lower lip and her entire body trembled lightly.

“Huh……? Is something wrong……?”

A thin, forced-sounding voice replied to him, “…………No, not really. But, I can’t drive a car or anything like that.”

“No, I mean, didn’t you just start the engine a moment ago?”

Given her practiced manner, Seymour would have thought that she was rather used to driving.

Once he pointed it out, Lumi pressed her forehead against the wheel, shaking her head like a peevish kid.

“You’re wrong…… It’s not like I forgot to hide my ability to drive just because I was still sleepy and slipped up……”

“So you forgot to hide it……”

“I didn’t…forget. Now listen, I don’t make such stupid blunders. Never.” Lumi objected fervently.

Seymour let out a deep guffaw. Even as he did that, he thought about how Lumi had just clearly admitted that she had fabricated her own character.

Maybe he should feel sad or shocked by that. But, just like how all things were worthless, the fact that she had deceived him meant nothing in the end. As such, Seymour couldn’t muster any of the strong feelings he ought to have.

“Well, whatever. Could you change gears for me? I’d like to test them out one by one.”

“Gear? What’s that? No, actually, what’s a car again? Wow, it’s the first time I’ve seen something like this!”

“Too late! And isn’t that way too exaggerated at this point!?”

As he watched Lumi sloppily try to cover up her mistake, he thought hard about how to somehow get her to help him with the maintenance. In the end he managed to keep Lumi in the driver’s seat until he was satisfied with his adjustments despite her incessant complaining.

“Maaan, you were a big help. Thanks. It’s so great that you can drive.”

“You’re welcome. Though I can’t drive at all. Absolutely not.”

“Ah, yeah, yeah. Gotcha.”

Lumi’s entire body transformed into mist with a poof. The mist then floated up into the loft. Since Seymour didn’t hear the sound of her human form landing, he was pretty sure she was moping in a corner of the ceiling.

This might become a great material to tease her with later.

Before heading to work, Seymour pulled out a cigarette, peering into the box and grimacing.

“Shit, that was my last one.”

Which, of course, reminded him of the cigar-selling girl. Ignoring her advice, he had bought cigarettes and a bomb. Ever since then he hadn’t shown his face at her place.

Imagining the kind of impression she might have of Seymour right now, it was now Seymour’s turn to release a long and dejected sigh.

❖ ──『✙』── ❖

——————– End of Part 1 ——————–

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